September (1 post)

Luk Hughes talking

Martin's back with some fascinating stats...

Every week he will be here on skysports.com to answer your questions and to offer you statistical gems from what he's seen as he tours the world commentating for Sky Sports.

Sky Sports' voice of football and his back-up team of experts want your queries on all things statistical and historical from the beautiful game.

Podolski: has been taken off every time he's started for Arsenal

So if you have spotted something from a game or have been stumped by a pub quiz question, simply email skysportsclub@bskyb.com and he will do his best to help.

Tyler's teaser

But as usual we'll kick off with a question for YOU. Click play to see this week's Tyler's Teaser.

Martin's starting stat

I was at the DW Stadium on Wednesday night to see Man City continue their winning run against Wigan. They've now won their last six meetings and not conceded a goal. They're unbeaten overall in their last 20 Premier League games; just two shy of the club's top-flight record of 22 set in 1936/37. They face Everton next and may get the chance to equal that record in the Manchester derby in two weeks' time.

They are also unbeaten in their last 17 Premier League games in the month of November - a record that now rolls on to next year. The last time they lost in this month was 1-0 to Manchester United in November 2008.

Of their 27 Premier League goals, 20 have come in the second half, including 13 of the last 14. The earliest Premier League goal they've scored away from home this season was the 35th-minute strike by Javi Garcia at Stoke. They've only scored two first-half away goals (the other was Sergio Aguero after 43 minutes at Fulham).

Mario Balotelli's scored his first away goal since Chelsea in December 2011 and his first goal in 13 Premier League games. More on him in the first question....

NOT SO HOT SHOTSAndy Carroll finally scored for West Ham on Sunday and the statistics show that he had 20 shots in the league this season before his goal. I was wondering which player has had the most shots without scoring a goal this season and if anybody comes close to Carroll? Keep up the good work, Craig (West Ham fan)

MARTIN SAYS: According to Opta, Carroll had 19 shots in the Premier League this season before finally opening his account with his 20th effort against West Ham on Sunday. However, before Wednesday night's games Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli had had even more shots without scoring. He had 26 shots this season without finding the net and had three more against Wigan before finally opening his account with his 30th shot of the campaign!

Four other players have also had more shots than Carroll without scoring this season. Those players are listed below.

Most shots this season without scoring (including blocked shots):

KI SUNG-YEUNG (23 shots): The Swansea midfielder had had 23 shots in his 10 appearances for the Swans, including two against West Brom and is yet to score.

GYLFI SIGURDSSON (21 shots): The new Icelandic midfielder is yet to open his account for Tottenham, but has managed 21 efforts in his 12 appearances so far.

GLEN JOHNSON (21 shots): Surprisingly, the Liverpool full-back has already had 21 shots this season in his 12 appearances.

AARON RAMSEY (20 shots): The Arsenal midfielder has made 13 appearances for Arsenal this season, but is yet to find the net, despite plenty of efforts.

HABITUALLY HOOKEDLukas Podolski has been substituted in every Arsenal game this season. Is this some sort of record? What's the most a single player has been substituted in one season? Charlie (Arsenal fan)

MARTIN SAYS: The Arsenal striker, who was not involved in a Premier League game for the first time this season against Everton on Wednesday night, has indeed equalled a Premier League record after being substituted in his first 13 consecutive fixtures. He matches the record set by Sergio Aguero last year who was taken off by Roberto Mancini in the first 13 games he started (his first game was as a substitute) before finally completing 90 minutes in a 1-0 win over Arsenal on December 18. No player has ever been substituted in 14 consecutive Premier League starts before - and Podolski would therefore break the record if he's taken off in his start for Arsenal in the league.

Players substituted in 10+ consecutive Premier League games:

Player

Consecutive games started and not finished*

Date of final substitution in run

Lukas Podolski

13

24/11/2012(ongoing)

Sergio Aguero

13

12/12/2011

Steed Malbranque

12

10/04/2010

Franco Di Santo

12

01/09/2012

Jerome Thomas

11

22/04/2012

Christophe Dugarry

10

25/10/2003

Claudio Reyna

10

15/04/2006

*Excluding red cards

Podolski still has some way to go to match the record for the most substitutions in a single season. That record is held by Steed Malbranque, who started 30 games for Sunderland in the 2009/10 season and was taken off in 26 of them! He'd also been taken off 22 times in 34 starts the previous season - so it was clearly not unusual for him to start and not finish during his time in the North East.

Players who were substituted 20+ times in one Premier League season:

Season

Player

Number of substitutions in PL

2009/2010

Steed Malbranque

26

2007/2008

Elano

23

2002/2003

Nolberto Solano

22

2008/2009

Steed Malbranque

22

2006/2007

Kanu

22

2003/2004

Fredrik Ljungberg

21

2004/2005

Marcus Bent

21

2011/2012

Sergio Agüero

20

2004/2005

Eidur Gudjohnsen

20

2005/2006

Peter Crouch

20

2011/2012

Matthew Etherington

20

2011/2012

Rafael van der Vaart

20

2008/2009

Albert Riera

20

2011/2012

David Ngog

20

HIGHS AND LOWSHi Martin - statistically, who is the worst Premier League manager ever? Maybe we should set a benchmark of a minimum of 100 matches? I reckon Mark Hughes should be up there! Kadasl

MARTIN SAYS: We asked Opta to look at the win percentages of every manager to have taken charge of 100 Premier League games. To date, there are 57 managers on that list and Mark Hughes has the 22nd best win ratio, having won 97 of his 270 games in charge - a ratio of 35.9%. The new QPR manager, Harry Redknapp, is only five places ahead of him, having won 227 of his 594 games (38.2%), including Tuesday night's draw with Sunderland.

Statistically, the manager with the best win percentage under these criteria is Jose Mourinho, who won more than 70% of his games in charge of Chelsea, putting him ahead of both Sir Alex Ferguson and Roberto Mancini in our list.

Managers with highest Premier League win% (minimum 100 games):

Manager

G

W

D

L

F

A

Win%

José Mourinho

120

85

25

10

215

67

70.8%

Alex Ferguson

786

511

163

112

1574

678

65.0%

Roberto Mancini

111

69

23

19

220

90

62.2%

Arsene Wenger

614

352

156

106

1158

576

57.3%

Rafael Benitez

230

126

57

47

371

183

54.8%

Claudio Ranieri

146

76

37

33

262

142

52.1%

Kenny Dalglish

238

115

60

63

362

239

48.3%

Roy Evans

184

87

50

47

299

187

47.3%

Gerard Houllier

261

122

69

70

415

276

46.7%

Bobby Robson

188

83

51

54

294

235

44.1%

To answer your question, the manager with the lowest win percentage is Mick McCarthy. The Ipswich boss has taken charge of 138 Premier League games with Sunderland and Wolves, but only won 27 - a win ratio of 19.6%. He's the only manager to have taken charge of more than 100 Premier League games who has won less than one in five.

Managers with lowest Premier League win% (minimum 100 games):

Manager

G

W

D

L

F

A

Win%

Mick McCarthy

138

27

28

83

127

241

19.6%

Dave Bassett

131

27

43

61

133

196

20.6%

Gary Megson

137

30

36

71

134

215

21.9%

John Lyall

102

24

34

44

102

150

23.5%

Alex McLeish

138

33

52

53

145

198

23.9%

Paul Jewell

138

34

28

76

135

235

24.6%

Gareth Southgate

114

29

33

52

115

159

25.4%

Roberto Martinez

128

33

36

59

134

227

25.8%

Bryan Robson

232

61

71

100

255

340

26.3%

Danny Wilson

105

28

18

59

105

180

26.7%

THE SAME SCORELINEHey Martin! Just going back to last weekend's north London derby where Arsenal beat Spurs 5-2 which was the second season in a row in which that scoreline happened at that ground. So my question is this... how often has the same fixture produced the exact same scoreline for more than one season in a row and which is the most popular fixture for this to occur in (if any!). Also has the same scoreline happened in the same fixture three or more seasons in a row!? Thanks in advance! Stephen Ruth (Liverpool fan)

MARTIN SAYS: The North London derby at the Emirates may have finished with a 5-2 scoreline for two seasons in a row - but that's nothing compared to the results of Tottenham's home games against Manchester City between the 2004/05 season and the 2008/09 season.

I say that because that fixture finished as a 2-1 home win to Tottenham for FIVE seasons in a row - a Premier League record. The team met on March 19, 2005 / April 8, 2006 / May 13, 2007 / December 9, 2007 /May 16 2009 in the Premier League and the result was the same each time. The run ended when Tottenham won 3-0 at home in the 2009/10 season.

We've seen three fixtures finish with the same scoreline for FOUR consecutive seasons: Chelsea won 2-0 at Portsmouth for four years between 2003/04 and 2006/07; Southampton won 1-0 at home to Tottenham for four seasons from 2001/02 to 2004/05; and Stoke have drawn 1-1 with Manchester City in each of the last four meetings at the Britannia Stadium, including this season's clash. That means they could match the record with another 1-1 draw next season.

These statistics are surely coincidental - but it is amazing to see the same scoreline five seasons in a row!

Seasons

Home Team

Away Team

Scoreline

Games in run

04/05 to 08/09

Tottenham

Manchester City

2-1

5

03/04 to 06/07

Portsmouth

Chelsea

0-2

4

01/02 to 04/05

Southampton

Tottenham

1-0

4

09/10 to present

Stoke

Manchester City

1-1

4

FALLING BEHIND... BUT OUT IN FRONTHello Martin. Man United have let in the first goal in nine Premier League games this season. So my question is if Man United were to go on and win the league, would they become the first team to go behind this many times and still win the title? Or has a team gone behind more times during the season and still won the league? Darren (Manchester United Fan)

MARTIN SAYS: They made sure West Ham had no time to score the first goal on Wednesday night by scoring within the first minute, but you are correct to say that they have conceded first in nine of the 14 Premier League games they have played this term.

Of the 20 previous Premier League champions, only eight conceded the first goal on more than nine occasions in the entirety of their title-winning season. Last season, Manchester City conceded the first goal in only eight of their 38 games, as did Manchester United when they won the league in 2010/11. In fact, when Manchester United won the league in 2008/09 they only conceded the first goal six times all season.

United have now conceded first in nine of their 14 games, but in their title-winning seasons of 2002/03 and 1993/94 they conceded the first goal 15 times and still came out on top - so the omens aren't all bad for Sir Alex Ferguson's side. This is something I'll bear in mind ahead of the Manchester derby so thanks for asking the question!

How many times each Premier League winner conceded the first goal:

Year

Champions

Games conceded first

1993

Manchester United

15*

2003

Manchester United

15

1997

Manchester United

14

2000

Manchester United

13

1999

Manchester United

12

2001

Manchester United

12

2007

Manchester United

11

2006

Chelsea

10

1994

Manchester United

9*

1996

Manchester United

9

1998

Arsenal

9

2004

Arsenal

9

2010

Chelsea

9

2002

Arsenal

8

2008

Manchester United

8

2011

Manchester United

8

2012

Manchester City

8

1995

Blackburn

7*

2005

Chelsea

6

2009

Manchester United

6

*42-game season

GROUNDS FOR DISMISSALWhich Premier League ground has seen most opposing players sent off (back in the day of Burnley's Longside terracing ,there seemed to be one every week?) UTC . Paul Grace

MARTIN SAYS:On the back of the column two weeks ago, where I explained that Arsenal had seen more opposition players sent off than any other side in Premier League history, we asked Opta to look at the grounds where the most opposition players had been sent off.

Last week I told you that Arsenal had seen opposing players sent off in 93 Premier League games - 13 more than any other side - so you won't be surprised to hear that more players have been sent off when visiting Arsenal than any other team. In total, 56 opposition players have been sent off in Arsenal's Premier League home games.

However, 37 of these red cards were at Highbury and 19 at the Emirates so far, so therefore neither ground is the answer to your question. The answer is, in fact, White Hart Lane, where 46 opposing players have been sent off in Premier League history. Everton's Goodison Park is only one game shy, however. There have been 45 opposing players sent off there in Premier League history.